Adjustment means for the rolls of multiroll chocolate and like refining machines



A. TU E 2,638,388

' A. NLY ADJUSTMENT MEANS FOR THE ROLLS 0F MUL'IIROLL CHOCOLATE AND LIKE REFINING MACHINES 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

May 12, 1953 Filed March 25, 1950 A. TUNLEY 2,638,388 FOR THE ROLLS 0F MUL'IIROLL- CHOCOLATE AND LIKE May 12, 1953 A. ADJUSTMENT MEANS Filed March 25, 1950 REFINING MACHINES 3 Sheets-Shqet 2 M w if A. A. TUNLEY 2,638,388

May 12; 1953 ADJUSTMENT MEANS FOR THE ROLLS OF MULTIROLL CHOCOLATE AND LIKE REFINING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed-March 25, 1950 The cage 2| has a lateral extension 39 in which bearings are provided for a worm 3| and the nut 22 referred to above has an external worm wheel 32 which meshes with the said worm. The spindle 33 of the worm is extended forwardly and provided with a handle or handwheel 34 for imparting rotation to the worm.

This screwthread adjustment cage linkage is coupled between the forked ends of the several roll levers, the preferred arrangement being that the screwthreaded spindle 25 of the lowermost cage 2| is coupled to the abutment lever l of the second roll I by pivot pin [1, the lug 23 of that cage being pivotally connected by pin l8 to the underside of the outer end 8a of the third roll lever 8, whilst the levers 8 and 9 of the third and fourth rolls 3 and 4 are coupled together by a cage linkage, with the cage lug 23 connected to the upper side of the lever 8 of the third roll and the screwthreaded spindle 25 coupled to the lower side of the-fork of the lever 9 of the fourth roll. The coupling between the fourth roll 4 and the uppermost (fifth) roll is arranged similarly to that of the cage below, with the screwthreaded spindle 25 connected to the fork of the lever ll? of the uppermost roll.

In operation, the adjustment between any pair of the rolls I, 3, 4, 5 above the feed roll 2 is effected by turning the appropriate handwheels 34 at each end of the roll to rotate the worms 3| which in turn imparts rotation to the nut 22. Nut rotation positively advances or retracts the screwthreaded spindles 25 to increase or decrease the distance between the pivots of the linkages and at the same time the worm gear constitutes an automatically locking adjustment. It will be seen that adjustment between a pair of rolls alters the nip between such pair whilst giving a displacement to the rolls above without disturbing the nip between such rolls.

The adjustment by the cage linkages is positive in both directions.

The mounting of the feed roll 2 and its adjustment relatively to the roll 1 may be effected in any known manner and does not form part of the present invention.

To maintain alignment of the levers in the vertical planes at right-angles to the roll axes, a vertical guide bar anchored at the top and bottom to the structural casting may be passed between the lever forks or through slots provided for their receptions The rolls are driven by a train of gear wheels 35 from shaft 36 in known manner.

I claim:

1. In a roll refiner for chocolate and the like, the combination including: a frame; a plurality of pairs of vertically spaced levers pivotally mounted at one end to said frame; horizontally disposed refining rolls rotatably mounted between each pair of levers and intermediate the ends of said pairs of levers, the lowermost of said rolls being fixed against vertical movement; links connecting each pair of said levers with each adjacent pair of said levers at the ends remote from the pivotal ends of said levers; and adjustable self-locking means for varying the length of each of said links and permitting adjustment of the nip between each end of any two selected refining rolls without affecting the nip between other refining rolls.

2. In a roll refiner for chocolate and the like, the combination including: a frame; a plurality of pairs of vertically spaced levers pivotally mounted at one end to said frame; horizontally disposed refining rolls rotatably mounted between each pair of levers and intermediate the ends of said pairs of levers, the lowermost of said rolls being fixed against vertical movement; links connecting each pair of said levers with each adjacent pair of said levers at the ends remote from the pivotal ends of said levers; adjustable self-locking means for varying the length of each of said links and permitting ad justment of the nip between each end of any two selected refining rolls without affecting the nip between other refining rolls; a spindle activating each of said adjustable links extending through the frame of the said refiner nearest the said links; a handwheel on each of said spindles outside of said frame.

ALLAN A. 'I'UNLEY.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

